Saving money

If you can afford to start socking money away, start a high-yield savings account. I use www.ingdirect.com. The rate's gone way down the last couple months, unfortunately, but I'm still earning about 5x the interest I was/am with my savings account at BofA. It's been a big boost.

Like others have said, pay yourself first. Set up an automatic deposit into your savings account so you don't even notice that the money's not in your checking account -- can't spend what you can't see.

 

We do things totally opposite (though obviously, whatever works).

Keep an eye out for stupidly good deals, clip coupons and keep up with triple coupon days/weeks -- and don't be afraid to have a freezer full.

Right now we have 10 2.5 pound bags of chicken in the freezer because Harris Teeter had them on a great deal. I think we paid something like a buck a bag for them. Two pieces for lunch in the microwave with some Old Bay or Mrs. Dash over brown rice is healthy plus about $.50 a meal.

If you have a Target nearby, their prices are usually cheaper than chain groceries. In the last month or so they've started a deal where if you buy five of something they pony up a $5 gift card. And that deal works with coupons.

I have three dozen 12 packs of Diet Pepsi in the garage (just over a dime a soda) and 15 boxes of Special K in the pantry (around $.40 a meal) because of those kinds of sales.

It's truly nuts how much you can save by waiting for the right opportunity and not being afraid to spend $20 today to save yourself $80 over the next two months.

That said, we do treat "going out" like Rick said. Rather than parking ourselves as an Italian place down the street for $25-30, we'll go to the grocery and buy stuff for just that dinner as a treat. You always end up with enough to eat 2-3 times on and end up spending $10 instead on date night.

 

And once you've saved up $5k-$10k, look into CDs. BofA is paying 1.9 now (I assume on one years) and a lot of plans treat it like a savings you can withdraw from whenever with no penalty. Wachovia is 2.65 over 32 months.

Bankrate (for what it's worth) has a dozen places offering 2.5-2.7 on 1 year. Not sure how comfortable I'd feel doing something outside of my home bank, but YMMV.

 

My paycheck is direct-deposited into my savings account, not checking. That makes me considerably more conscious about how much I'm taking out for monthly bills -- and ensures whatever's left is drawing some meager interest.

I try to spend actual paper money whenever possible. I'm trying to avoid the automatic teller, and only get money from real people. That also forces me to pay extra attention to my spending on the little things, because if I'm out of cash on the weekend, that's it.

 

I stopped drinkin so damn much at the bar. Stopped buying rounds for everyone too. The money I'm saving is helping me save for a car.

 

The way we handle it, Going out is a treat. It's a once a week treat, but still, just once a week. That includes lunches for my missus and I as well. Brown bagging it is fine. Even if you by better types of deli meat and the like, it's still cheaper than a restaurant. We buy with coupons when we can. If you have a store that has some sort of online club, you can save more. Raley's sends us a coupon for 20 dollars off if we spend a hundred once a month and my funny little honey has gotten very good at spending right around 100 dollars (last time she spent 101).

And, it helps to win a side of beef in a raffle [/crossthreading]

 

Just like dollar bills, put your change in a jar every day. For our family, it usually adds up to about $50 or $60 bucks. Once we fill it, we use it on something fun for the family to do.

 

Like others, the Bank of America "Keep the Change" program has helped me. I typically average somewhere around $15 a month that's moved into my savings that I don't have to think about.

I honestly think one of the biggest changes from last month was the amount of money spent toward beer. I usually like to have a beer with dinner, but in March I didn't buy any. That was about $50 saved right there. Besides, rubbing alcohol will get the job done.

 

Nothing against the paper money plan, but if you trust yourself to be responsible, a credit card with rewards points (I use capital one) can really pay off. I earned enough points to get a big fat gift card to best buy, which i used on a small flat-screen TV for the bedroom. Basically, it was something i wanted to upgrade (since my old 13-inch TV in there was like 15 years old) but didn't want to drop $ on. So instead of having to save up for it, the credit-card points paid for it on their own. And my card does double points for gas and groceries, where you're going to spend a lot of your money even if you're being frugal. Just a thought.

 

If you are in a position to need a special plan to save money, you probably aren't one of the small portion of people for whom gaming credit-card rewards and floats are profitable.

 

I also use ING Direct for savings & BoA's Keep the Change.

I just noticed that BoA also has a cash back rewards program called Add It Up. I just registered today. It works with debit cards as well as their credit cards (which thankfully, I don't have one.)